By Our Reporter
Kampala
The Vice President of Uganda His Excellency Edward Sekandi on Tuesday said that government will support local scientists in their effort to come up with a locally developed vaccine by providing the necessary financial and technical support in their quest. He made these remarks while officiating at the world science day celebrations at Kyambogo University.
The vice president also at the same celebrations inspected various stalls of science exhibitors ranging from clothing, food and medicine, and engineering, where he suggested that the name for the Kiira motors flagship bus the Kayoola Electronic bus be changed to a more suitable name that will fly high the Ugandan flag on the world market in terms of technological development.
World science day is celebrated globally on 10th November to highlight the importance of science and technology in day to day living. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Science for and with the people in the era of a global pandemic”.
Present too at the function was the minister of Science Technology and Innovation Elioda Tumwesigye who lauded the president for forming the ministry in 2016. He also said that the day is very significant in highlighting the contribution of science to the development of the country but also to help the society appreciate the importance of science. Elioda further that his ministry will ensure that all government projects use the best scientific evidence available at the least cost and high-quality technological tool available to make decisions on how programs can be implemented, and also ensuring that all government MDAs have people who are knowledgeable about science.
When asked about the progress of other countries developing vaccines for coronavirus, and why Uganda is lagging behind, the Minister had this to say. “Other countries discovering vaccines or medicines should not deter other countries from pursuing the same course. So there is no contradiction by us (Uganda) continuing to develop a vaccine and vaccine delivery modules even if other countries have produced vaccines”.
This comes after Pfizer; an American Pharmaceutical company on Monday announced that early analysis shows its Covid-19 vaccine is 90% effective.
The host of the celebrations and Vice-Chancellor of Kyambogo University; Prof. Eli Katunguka who called for the creation of a competitive national research fund; which would provide an opportunity to fund research that is relevant for its national socio-economic transformation. He also called for an increase in the training of more PhD holders in the fields of science and engineering as opposed to arts-related fields in universities. He conclusively appealed for more support from the government to public universities in their effort to do research and teach different aspects of science and technology.
